


Into the snowstorm

by La_perlas_mermaid



Category: Kung Fu Panda (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24778726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/La_perlas_mermaid/pseuds/La_perlas_mermaid
Summary: Tigress goes to a small mountain town to find a serial killer. A fic based on Nordic Noir novels, lots of thanks to my friend Nick for helping me with this one. Don't own anything don't sue
Kudos: 2





	Into the snowstorm

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything so please don’t sue.

Chapter 1

A lone feline walked slowly in the snowy mountains leading to Bingzheng. The snow fell so heavy that it was making the simple chore of walking almost impossible. It should be expected, sane animals don't risk death by hypothermia by traveling this path during the winter snowstorms but this is merely the beginning of autumn, it should not be this bad. Tigress cursed Po for getting her into this mess but even Shifu agreed she was the best choice for this particular mission, besides she was healthy and well prepared.

This snowstorm just came out of nowhere and it was getting worse with every passing minute, if the call for this town hadn’t been so urgent she would have turned around and seeked shelter in the panda village nearby, she could have taken the opportunity to give Po a visit while she was at it

The wind picked up even more, it howled like an angry wolf as it passed through the steep mountain path, Tigress had a thick coat and good isolating clothes but even then she could feel the cold biting on the skin below her fur, she had to hurry up, the snowstorm was getting worse by the minute and if she didn't made it to the town in time she might end up stuck in the middle of it.

A few miles away from her destination she saw a figure quickly approaching her, it was none other than Song, a former criminal she had met a few years ago in the valley of peace. 

-” I came here to help you reach the town, the storm is coming much sooner than expected”- Said the leopardess

Well considering it was her letter that brought her here Tigress assumed the least Song could do is make sure she didn’t die in the way to the village

They continued on their path and managed to reach the gates of the small town right as the full force of the storm was almost hitting the area. Fortunately they were greeted by grateful villagers and even the mayor was there to welcome them, though right off the bat she could see the mayor wasn’t so happy about her arrival, the large bull kept looking at her with cold distressed eyes.

-”Well at least the welcome is warm”- Said Tigress shivering as she was offered some hot tea

-"It's the least we can do"- Said Song -"we are desperate for your help, our town is really small and these crimes seem to have come out of nowhere"-

-”Right, the murders. I am quite baffled as well, why would anyone do that in a place like this where you have to rely on each other to survive?”- Tigress wondered aloud

-"That is what I ask myself too. Liu Shen, at your service"- said the mayor, a large bull with an air of grandiose petulance about him -"I have lived here all my life and know most of the villagers by name and I can guarantee you that neither of them would be capable of such a thing"-

-”Whats you're view on this Tigress?”- Song asked her -”When I contacted Po he said you were the only master that had read every scroll on crime investigation that was ever written”-

Tigress just facepalmed, Po did have the habit of exaggerating and making everything larger than life, yes there are plenty of scrolls on the matter because warriors can often be tasked to find a culprit before engaging in battle and yes, she had read many of them while growing up in the Jade Palace. But she wasn’t so experienced in detective work, most times the criminals were easy to find. Sighing she addressed the mayor -”Has there been any outsiders aside from us living in this town lately?”-

-"Well yes, many outsiders come for work during the summer and spring and a good chunk of them had been stuck here because the winter storms have come much earlier than expected. So far none of them had had any suspicious behaviour though"-  
-”Speaking of the devil”- Song pointed at the direction of the storm that was closing in

The kung fu master sighed -”Apparently I am stuck here as well, perhaps even until spring”- 

-"I know you must be tired but there is something you need to see. A new murder has happened and we need you to investigate the scene"- Liu Shen said guiding her deeper into the village

Walking towards the crime scene she asked the people around her -”Has something like this ever happened before?”-

The mayor seemed awfully nervous when speaking -"No of course not! As a matter of fact I cannot recall hearing about crimes this heinous in all of china, please follow me, once you see what this..... monster is capable of doing you will see for yourself"-

As they followed the mayor the townspeople surrounded the felines as if it were a sacred procession, they ended up in the town's square. In the middle of it there was a butchered horse, his torax had been split open and his ribs had been splayed out as if forming a pair of disgusting wings.

-“Oh my”- Said Song

Fighting her urge to throw up her tea, Tigress kept a stoic face as she asked -”When did this happened?”-

-“Shortly after miss Song here went to look for you, as a matter of fact I had already hired an investigator for these crimes but the storm might have made her travel impossible, so miss Song thought you would be a better option. We found the corpse just as we woke up, his name was Wu Shang, he was the town's scholar"-  
Tigress leaned closer to the horrific sight, the blood was already being covered by the rapidly falling snow -“Let's get the corpse out from here and see if we can examine it”-

With the help of the villagers they managed to carry the corpse to the healer’s house, since he might have better tools for examination

-“Whoever did this was able to overpower a very large animal, there is very little signs of struggle, though those could be hidden until much later, bruises might appear several hours after death. Also cutting the ribs with such precision requires specialized tools”- Said the healer as he examined the dead body

Song merely exclaimed -“Seems like he was attacked by surprise, no way that someone could go on a fight with this guy without getting hurt”-

Tigress nodded as she responded her -”At least we might be able to filter the suspect pool by size, it would take a really large animal to overpower a horse. We also need a list of every animal in town that might have access to tools sharp enough to break bone”-

-”This guy was smart enough to attack from behind so he probably stole them to hide the tracks”-

-”And I'm afraid the list would be really long, this is the end of harvest season everyone here has sharp tools"- Said the healer concerned while looking inside the horse's mouth, in there he found a note, upon reading it out loud it said "give me what I want and I will leave you alone"

-”That's a weird deal if we don't know what he wants!”- Said Liu exasperated, he couldn’t bear to be close to the examination table so he stood outside the room merely peeking in from time to time

Tigress asked the healer -”Do all the victims have the same message?”-

Before the elderly goat could answer the mayor shouted defeated -"Yes! And before you ask I don't know what it wants! If we did we would just give it to him"-

Song crossed her arms over her chest -” Well then he is obviously just a jerk”-

Tigress just stayed quiet to ponder the facts before her

After the necropsy was over Song led her to the only inn in the village, it was a pretty large building with a cozy atmosphere, it’s main use was for the workers that came here during harvest season. Before she settled in she asked her host to follow her into her room so they could discuss a few issues.

-”I don't think the mayor is telling us the truth, he got overly anxious when I asked him about the note. It seems he didn’t even want me to come here anyway, you were the one that asked for my help. How long have you been living here?”-  
-”I came for the harvest last summer and liked it here so I stayed through the last winter. It just seemed like a good place to start all over, being so far away from everything and all. I don’t know the mayor that well, if you think he might be hiding something perhaps we should work on our own just in case”-  
-” Yeah, I still need his help to gather all the information he has on the last murders but after that we investigate on our own.”-

-” Got it, I’ll ask the main hall for every scroll that documents these crimes, In the meantime you should settle in and recover from the journey”-

She did as told, the travel here had been extremely taxing so after a warm bath and a good meal both felines analyzed the evidence in front of them

-”Three victims, one young sheep, an elderly goat and the adult male horse. They are all distantly related by marriage, which is common in small towns like  
these.”- Tigress mused while looking at the many scrolls splayed all over the floor of her room.  
-”Indeed our best bet is probably looking for clues in the spots where they were murdered”-  
-”Yeah, let's start with the first victim according to this report, she was found dead and butchered in the front of her own house”-

But when they went outside as soon as they opened the door a huge gust of wind and snow came right towards them, in front of them was nothing but chaotic specks or white, it was impossible to see beyond a few feet ahead.

Song shivered -”Hmm. We are probably not gonna find anything in this weather”-

Tigress just gave her a very warm coat before wearing one herself. -”We can at least see for clues inside the scene and interview her husband, you said her house is only a few blocks away”-

The few blocks to the sheep house felt like an eternity but they finally made it to the front entrance, mournfully tigress looked at the crime scene rendered useless by the heavy snow, any footprints and even the blood patterns had long been buried. She knocked but nobody answered, with a single push she realized the door was open. Not wanting to be in the storm for a second longer both felines entered the house

Song was dusting off the mounds of snow from her shoulders, sure this town could get cold during the winter being so close to the mountains and all but this was much worse than usual -”Why would the door be open? Especially in a storm”- 

-“And why would they turn off the chimney?”- Tigress noted that the house was barely warmer than the outside weather, so far the place looked empty. -”Did you manage to get to know the victim?”-

-”Well.. She was a pretty nice lady. But to be honest, most people here are very wary of outsiders. The few friends I made here were other farm workers, the longtime locals usually kept to themselves”- She was almost hoping there was nobody here so they could go back to the inn and sit close to the chimney -”Hello! Is anyone home?”-

-”Song, come look at this”-  
Tigress was in the main bedroom at the back of the house, in there a male sheep laid dead hanging by the neck.


End file.
